I will assert that being farsighted is VASTLY better than being nearsighted, for the simple fact that you have far more control over the conditions in which you need to read “close up” than you do “far away”, e.g., it’s generally at home, when not physically active, and so forth. Wearing glasses when being physically active is a major pain, as they are going to fly off your face, get stepped on, etc. I love not needing to wear glasses when driving, walking, or doing other things.

Meanwhile, my ability to use OTC cheapo reading glasses (usually from “Dollar Tree” stores, so “cheeeeeeeeeeeeep”) means I have about 5-10 different pairs on hand, one sitting at each place where I typically wind up needing glasses (I also have a pair I keep around my neck, but I don’t always wear it around the house, so they save me from having to go hunt up the “go to” pair).

Glad to hear that the results of your surgery continues to be positive. I’ve followed your updates closely as my wife will soon be needing cataract surgery, but only has effective vision in one eye. She contracted histoplasmosis that resulted in scarring of the blood vessels in front of her retina in the other eye, leaving only very narrow peripheral vision. She is very nearsighted (think of coke bottle bottoms for glasses!) with lots of floaters, and we are looking at who would be the best eye surgeon for the procedure, as it’s important that it goes right the first time.

I really appreciate you sharing what you’ve been through, and the info on the doctor that did your surgery. I’ve in turn shared it with her, which is encouraging for her. I plan to contact the doctor that did your procedure, he looks to be topnotch, and worth flying across the country to have it done.

I really enjoy your site and posts, and wish you the best on further recovery.

Thanks for the suggestions, but eyeglasses with a monovision prescription wouldn’t tell me anything new. I already have form of monovision because my right eye is terrible at distance and good closeup, and my left eye is great at distance and not good closeup. I am functioning okay that way, but it feels a little strange and unbalanced, perhaps because my right eye is my naturally dominant eye and my brain is having to override that for distance. My brain seems to be handling it, but there’s a bit of stress involved that I think I perceive in some very subtle way.

The other reason why I can’t do a trial of monovision eyeglasses is that my right eye is uncorrectable with glasses, both the near and the far vision. Both eyes were like that before the surgery, but now the left eye doesn’t need correction for distance, and for close work it corrects quite well with eyeglasses. If cataracts are bad enough, eyeglasses don’t help.

I don’t like driving with my bifocals probably because I like the close focus area set extra low. For driving I prefer single vision sunglasses. If I get the distance prescription set correctly, I can still read the dashboard instruments.

Monovision is certainly an option to consider for your right eye surgery. I had a monovision prescription for contact lenses for years, and that worked well for me. I understand that not everyone adapts well to monovision, though. Maybe you could get glasses made with a monovision prescription to try it out before your second cataract surgery.

As for bifocals, you can have the close-focus area of the lens cut any way you want. I always had the line higher than normal. Sitting at a computer, I wanted the line to be about where the top of the screen would be, so the whole screen was in focus. That worked well for driving, too, because the line was about where the top of the dashboard was. (Side note: librarians and airline pilots often get bifocals with a second close-focus area at the top of the lens, so they don’t have to tilt their heads back to read above them. You really can get the lens cut to suit your needs.)

As Philu noted, allergic reactions to eye drops are often about the preservatives. There are preservative-free drops. Ask your doctor for recommendations.